§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many Nobel prize winners wrote to him to ask for the retention of the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury; and what was the nature of his response.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthMy right hon. and learned Friend has received one letter from a Nobel prize winner who expressed the hope that the Science and Engineering Research Council's nuclear structure facility at Daresbu.ry could be kept open. The reply was to the effect such decisions were for the SERC to make, based on its judgments of scientific priority.
§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will publish his Department's evaluation of the quality of the work done at the nuclear structure facility at Daresbury.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthEvaluation of the scientific quality of research carried out under the aegis of the research councils is a matter for them and the scientific community to assess. The Department does not seek to make its own judgments in these matters.
§ Mr. ButlerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what representations were made to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon, in the course of his recent visit to Daresbury laboratory about the desirability of a peer review of the quality of work undertaken at the nuclear structure facility; and what was his response.
§ Mr. Alan HowarthDuring my visit to Daresbury laboratory with my hon. Friend on 22 February I met a number of the staff and their representatives who put to me their concern about SERC's planned closure of the nuclear structure facility. Several expressed the view that such a decision should be subject to further peer review. I responded by emphasising that decisions on the management of SERC's programme must be for the council to judge, and by referring to the further study to assess the importance of the area of nuclear structure science announced by SERC on 7 February.